News Brief

The adoption of the resolutions framed by the committee on organization and the committee on finance, the latter unanimously, at yesterday’s session of the Administrative Committee of the Jewish Agency indicated that a spirit of harmony and understanding prevailed and that all outstanding difference had been smoothed away.

Yesterday’s session was devoted to a discussion of the Jewish National Fund and colonization problems while in the morning, Lord Melchett, president of the English Zionist Federation, who has just returned from South Africa, delivered and address in which he declared he had no doubt as to the sincerity of Premier MacDonald and his colleagues with regard to Palestine.

In the discussion on the Jewish National Fund, M. M. Ussishkin, its head, denied the allegation that the Arabs were being dispossessed from the land. He cited facts showing that the Jewish National Fund had fully compensated the Arab peasants. Mr. Ussishkin stressed the need for more colonization and recalled that when Max Warburg and Dr. Cyrus Adler were in Palestine they had realized that urgency.

LATE LOUIS MARSHALL PROMISED J. N. F. FULL SUPPORT

Recalling that the late Louis Marshall had promised the fullest support for the Jewish National Fund, Mr. Ussishkin concluded by saying that “excessive rationalism and scepticism will not lead to great things. We must have faith and vision.”

The growth in Palestinian products in the last 20 years when the Zionist Organization first began colonization work was explained by Dr. Arthur Ruppin, a member of the Palestine Zionist Executive, and former colonization expert for the Executive. Recalling that two decades ago the colonizers had been faced with the problem of whether Palestine could produce articles for export he showed that Palestine today has good markets and mentioned its orange market and the possibilities of a banana market. Dr. Ruppin cited figures showing that Nahalal sold last year $53,465 worth of Palestine products. He pointed out the possibilities for a great dairying industry which had shown a remarkable growth in recent years.

While not doubting the sincerity of Prime Minister MacDonald and his colleagues on the Palestine issue, Lord Melchett, who addressed the Administrative Committee during the morning, said that the difficulty lay not in any denial of pledges by the British government but in complementing the practical side of the pledges.

In urging that all financial embarrassments be overcome Lord Melchett pointed out that “there is no step we should not take and no methods we should not try for enlisting further support for the budget. I sometimes wonder whether we have not become somewhat mechanized in our methods of raising money and whether there aren’t new and other methods that could be introduced.”

CANNOT AFFORD TO FAIL

Emphasizing the fact “we could not afford to fail at the present time” Lord Melchett pointed out that it is important for the Jewish Agency to remember that the idea of the Agency had not yet thoroughly penetrated and that it had not yet obtained the enthusiasm which was secured by the Zionist Organization under the old Zionist banner.

Because he stood “with one foot on each side” he desired to emphasize that the Agency could not afford “by an action to dampen down or deny to the great mass of Zionists the democratic support that Zionism was bringing to the Agency throughout the length and breadth of the world.” He expressed himself as being glad that the conference had succeeded in uniting practical and serious work and he felt sure that “it would unite all of them with the active and continued cooperation of the chairman (Felix Warburg) and Dr. Oscar Wasserman and other men who had made great sacrifices in order to assist the common cause on which all are engaged.”

Earlier in his address Lord Melchett had said “it is useless to disguise the fact that there are external difficulties as a result of the terrible outbreaks of last year. We have to face a continual barrier to maintain our position which requires the greatest tact, patience and firmness for progress in the future.”

PAYS TRIBUTE TO WORK OF LORD READING

Paying tribute to the invaluable work Lord Reading had rendered the cause during the difficult times “through which we passed” Lord Melchett said “Jewry throughout the world expected us to maintain our rights as far as possible. We have the sympathy of the people in Great Britain and in other countries. We must show ourselves as a concrete and practical people ready to face existing difficulties and at the same time to make it as practical as we can to carry out the Mandate in the way in which we wish it to be done.

“Our work in Palestine is developing and there is no power on earth which could stop this from taking place. That is my great hope, comfort and consolation amidst difficulties with which we are beset. I am quite certain that we will be able in the future, as in the past, to find ways, methods and means of progressing with our work and that we will find a measure of understanding and sympathy beyond what a great many people expect. We must not always overestimate the violence of our opponents and attach too small a value to the support of large numbers of loyal and consistent friends who ally themselves to our cause.”